This invention relates generally to viscoelastic characterization of samples, and, more particularly, to one.
Quantification of the viscoelastic properties of soft tissue biopsies and fibrous protein gels is vital to the understanding of normal tissue development, wound healing, disease progression, and cell-mediated remodeling engineered tissues (e.g., collagen, fibrin). Rheometers are theoretically well suited for characterizing the storage and loss modulus of such soft gels; however, standard “geometries” used in such commercial instruments require relatively large, homogeneous samples to generate sufficient torque for accurate analysis of low stiffness materials. Additionally, the analysis generally assumes isotropic linear viscoelastic behavior. Newly formed tissues and biological protein gels such as blood clots are often small, soft, irregularly shaped, anisotropic, and difficult to handle. Rheometry of tissue samples and other biological samples, such that the results of biopsies, is not common in the literature since the samples are not compatible with the conventional rheometers used in the conventional manner.
There is a need for methods that extend the utility of standard rotational rheometers for accurate and sensitive viscoelastic characterization of small, irregularly shaped biological samples.